Many restaurants need to prepare a high volume of food relatively quickly. Eggs and various types of egg sandwiches are common breakfast foods that are served at many such restaurants, where a large volume of such items needs to be prepared relatively quickly, particularly at breakfast. Since a high volume of food needs to be prepared quickly, labor requirements can be substantial, particularly for the high volume periods of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
It is desirable to use fresh whole eggs, particularly for sandwiches and food items that require a whole fried or poached egg such as, for example, a fried egg sandwich or an Egg McMuffin® sandwich. In addition, it is desirable to separately cook a plurality of individual whole eggs on a single grill surface for substantially the same amount of time to help ensure consistent product quality and uniformity.
Flavor characteristics and taste sensations are important factors consumers use to evaluate food products including breakfast foods and sandwiches. It is important for consumer satisfaction that consumers receive cooked eggs that are of a consistent high quality. Therefore, there is a need for a method of cooking eggs to ensure product uniformity.
For convenience and uniformity, eggs may be cooked in egg-retaining rings placed on a grill or griddle cooking surface. The rings may be bottomless cylindrical shells, for example, so that food placed therein is in direct contact with the grill or griddle cooking surface. Preferably, several rings are arranged in an array and connected together so that multiple eggs may be cooked simultaneously. For example, twelve rings may be arranged in a 3×4 array to permit one dozen eggs to be cooked at one time. The ring array may be hinged to a frame, and a cover may be provided to facilitate fast, even cooking.
After the eggs are cooked, the eggs typically become adhered to the interior wall of the ring and a restaurant worker has to lift up the cover, separate each of the eggs adhering to the walls of a ring, and then remove the eggs from the cooking surface. Thus, it is necessary to release the egg's adherence to the ring. Prior to this invention, the cooked eggs were released from the cooking rings one at a time by the worker's inserting and moving a spatula around the inner circumference of each cooking ring between the cooked egg and the inner wall of the ring to break the bond or adherence of the egg to the ring. Using a spatula in this manner is not only relatively inefficient and time-consuming, but also risks damage to the egg during separation, such as by breaking or tearing of the egg. Thus, there is a need for a device and method that removes eggs easily, quickly, reliably and without damaging the eggs.
A need further exists for a device and method for reducing the labor intensity required at breakfast for individual shelled eggs while maintaining egg product quality and not requiring that eggs be cooked substantially in advance of serving to customers. Therefore, there is also a need for a device and method that can simultaneously release a plurality of eggs easily, quickly, reliably and without damaging them.